Ubu roi.

Founded in 1965 by Luis Valdez, El Teatro Campesino was initially the cultural wing of the United Farm Workers union in California's central valley. With a pointed political mission, ETC performed their actos in the fields, agitprop improvisations communicated eloquently with the workers, who could neither read nor write, but recognized themselves and their values in the actos. By 1970 ETC had gained an international reputation, with major contributions to Chicano culture in the U.S. and to the development and expansion of the boundaries of theater everywhere. Theirs is a popular theater rooted in the American streets, early California history, Mayan/Aztec mythology and Mexican folklore and spiritualism, all geared toward expression of social, political and cultural perceptions. Valdez believes in a total theaterone where an elevation of sensation is achieved through a trinity of music, dance and drama to stimulate a New American Audience, a celebration of cultural diversity. This video documents a rehearsal of El Teatro Campesinos rendition of Alfred Jarrys play Ubu Roi. Directed by Kinan Valdez, this piece represents the newer generation of ETC which in the mid-nineties began to train in classic world theater while simultaneously pushing the envelope of the classic styles they were examining and of ETCs production choices. This production of Ubu was created in 1996 in the context of the 100-year anniversary of Jarry's Ubu. A satire of William Shakespeares Macbeth, Ubu has no ambition, is idiotic, and is pushed into a kingdom by his wife. In this production of Ubu Roi, instead of banishing Ubu out of the kingdom, he is banished to the New World. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics